Collapsible invalid&#39;s vehicle



' 1956 G. SCHLADEBACH COLLAPSIBLE INVALID'S VEHICLE Filed July 22, 1952 I WW4,

flrromvir United States Patent COLLAPSIBLE INVALIDS VEHICLE Gert Schladebach, Hanan (Main), Germany, assignor to Adam Wilhelm Lehr, Offenbach (Main), Germany Application July 22, 1952, Serial No. 300,316 Claims priority, application Germany July 25, 1951 1 Claim. (Cl. 280-38) This invention relates to a collapsible chair of the kind used by invalids by means of which they may propel themselves or be pushed by another person.

Invalids and ailing persons who are impeded in the use of their legs have to rely on vehicles of the aforesaid type for locomotion. While they may be able to use public conveyances, such as railways, ships, and other means, or automobiles, to travel great distances, they are forced to rely on invalids chains, hand or self propelled vehicles or the like whenever they wish to travel short distances such as are easily walked by healthy persons. It is true that there are known such invalids chairs, but it is also true that the chains of conventional design are bound to' their locations of every-day use and cannot easily be conveyed while travelling, so that many journeys have to be given up however important they may be to the respective invalid.

Collapsible chairs and the like have already been proposed, but they did not meet their requirements due to being either too large, too heavy, or too complicated and, therefore, inconvenient to use.

It is the purpose of the invention to eliminate these disadvantages and to provide an invalids chair or vehicle of the said kind, which will satisfactorily answer all the requirements as regards size, weight, ease of carrying on public conveniences, and which will yet be of great practical use and ease of transportation in a collapsed state.

In accordance with the invention the frame or chassis of the invalids vehicle is divided into three main constructional parts, which are turnably or otherwise movably connected to each other and adapted to serve as the carrying parts for the wheels and the driving means, while a fourth part is devised to form the seat and, at the same time, to support or brace the three mutually main parts just referred to and to lock the same to one another so as to provide a sturdy frame of great rigidity and an invalids vehicle of great usefulness and convenience.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention as applied to different kinds of invalids vehicles by way of example. In these drawings:

Fig. l is a plan view of a set-up three-wheeled invalids chair in accordance with the invention, the means for propelling the chair being omitted for the sake of better clearness, it being understood, that they may be of any type or shape such as may be usual in conveyances of the type referred to, or other.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the chair in its folded position, and

2,774,605 Patented Dec. 18, 1956 "ice Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the chair shown in Fig. 1 as folded, the unfolded position being indicated in broken lines.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the chair according to these figures comprises side members 1 and 2 and a supporting or main frame 3 constructed in accordance with the invention. The side members mount the large rear wheels 4 and 5 of the chair. The side members or frames are connected to a cross member 3, which also 'forms part of the main frame, by means of the hinge posts 6 and 7 respectively pivoted in sleeve 8 on cross member 3'. Members 1 and 2 are pivotal from the posisition of Fig. 1 into the positions of Figs. 2 or 3 in which they lie closely against the main frame 3. The usual steering wheel 9 is carried in a fork 10 at the forward end of the frame 3.

Figs. 2 and 3 show that the chair when folded occupies only a very small space, the broken lines of Fig. 3 showing the foldable side members unfolded and extended into their position of use. Fig. 3 also shows a convenient form of the hinge posts 6 or 7. The posts are formed by arms depending from the side members preferably by a lbent-down portion of the same and fit pivotally in the bearing sleeves 8.

In Fig. 1 is further shown that the chair, in its position of use, is braced by a seat 11 which is attached thereto by lugs and bolts 12 for example, so as to unite the whole vehicle into a perfectly rigid structure. In the collapsed condition the seat may be taken from its connections and placed edgewise between the folded frames.

What I claim is:

A foldable invalids chair comprising, in combination a rigid generally T-shaped main frame, a steering fork rotatably mounted on the free end of the long arm of said frame, a front wheel supported by said fork, said wheel being pivotal between a position aligned with said arm and positions at an angle thereto, a hinge means ateach end of the cross-arm of the frame extending transversely of said cross-arm, two side frames, each of said hinge means including a pivot post bent off at a right angle from the respective side frame and a receiving sleeve therefor extending from the respective end of the cross-arm for pivoting said side frames between a set-up position parallel to each other and said long arm on the side of the cross-arm opposite the long arm and a folded position parallel to each other and the long arm on the same side of the cross-arm as said long arm, a pair of rear wheels each rotatably mounted on one side frame on the outside thereof relative to the cross-arm, and a seat including bracing means attachable to and between the side frames in the setup position thereof, thereby retaining the frames in the said position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 699,186 Katzke May 6, 1902 1,601,917 Kinvall Oct. 5, 1926 1,637,129 Pritchett July 26, 1927 2,536,749 Jenner et al Jan. 2, 1951 2,582,152 Ollagnon Jan. 8, 1952 

